Starring Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, and Hugh Grant, Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre is clearly an attempt to launch a spy-thriller action franchise. However, most production companies don’t like to lose millions of dollars on their movies, so I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a sequel.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre

Known for his punchy dialogue and signature energetic directing style, Guy Ritchie decided to go another way with the Jason Statham action vehicle, Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre. If I’m being honest, I didn’t know that this was a Guy Ritchie film until the closing credits. In fact, at one point during the first act, I remember thinking that this movie is like a Guy Ritchie film without the pizzazz or commitment.

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There are moments when it’s entertaining. Those moments are usually when Statham is delivering a beating to someone. Say what you want about the man, but he knows how to sell a fight scene. However, it’s far from enough, especially since he himself never really gets hurt at all. With the exception of Hugh Grant’s Greg (more on him later), the rest of the characters are ill-defined and seem barely invested.

Simply put, there’s no sense of urgency to the film, and it doesn’t help that neither the protagonists nor the audience even knows what the good guys are trying to stop from happening until one hour and nine minutes into a one hour and fifty-nine-minute movie. We all know that it’s something bad, but not how bad. Furthermore, we don’t know who wants it, or for what exactly they want it until there are about thirty minutes left in the film…and we don’t care because the bad guys are ill-defined dumpy generic greedy rich white guys and the “weapon” is not something that immediately evokes fear in most people.

**SPOILERS** The “weapon” will crash the world markets which, don’t get me wrong, would cause the deaths of millions (perhaps billions) in a very short time, but the vast majority of American viewers have an average of $4,500 of savings. While it would certainly suck to lose that all at once, most of these folks are already living paycheck to paycheck. It takes a little bit of knowledge and thought to consider the true impact of the ensuing catastrophe, should the villains be successful. That’s not a good thing for a shoot’em-up action flick.

Also, the bad guys’ plan doesn’t actually make any sense. Ok so they are motivated by greed, and they’ve purchased tens of billions of dollars worth of gold. Their plan is to ruin the World’s economy so that the value of their gold soars, making them the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. Here is the problem with that. Were the world economy to collapse overnight, bedlam would ensue across the planet, and the goods and services that these two numbnuts covet so much would cease to be. I’m old enough to remember how bare the shelves were when Joe Biden’s shipping crisis was in full swing, what luxury item or resort do they think that they will be enjoying when everything is burning and two-thirds of the population is dead?

So, good for them, they’ll be the richest and most powerful men in a world with no internet, no food to eat, no vacation destinations to visit, and emaciated women with no access to deodorant, razors, or toothpaste. That ought to make for fun Eyes Wide Shut parties.

**END SPOILERS**

The thing is that all of the above could be forgiven if there was an ounce of energy or style in the film. It’s as bland and generic an action flick as I’ve ever seen. Hugh Grant is the only bright spot. He is a ton of fun to watch as he chews up the scenery in every scene, and I hope that his character somehow makes it into another Guy Ritchie film (once Ritchie is off the Lunesta) so that we can see his true potential.

WOKE ELEMENTS

• The main antagonists are greedy self-described capitalists, even though no capitalist capable of earning tens of billions of dollars would ever come up with a plan as stupid as theirs.
• Aubrey Plaza’s character is perfect at everything. She’s also needlessly sarcastic to men who are doing a good job or even a superior job at something that they aren’t trained to do.
  • Before anyone starts comparing her character to Statham or the block of wood better known as Bugzy Malone, who plays JJ, Both Statham and Bugzy have fairly well-defined roles in the team and they stick to those roles. She on the other hand is a supergenius hacker, a tech wizard, and a flawless field agent who possess superhuman aim…for reasons.

P.S. Josh Hartnett is in the movie, and I nearly completely forgot because, in a film with bland and lifeless characters, his was the watercress of the bunch. It’s not even his fault, there was absolutely nothing for him to work with.